New recruit learning the ropes after swapping circus for police beat

There's little chance Mathew Loudon will receive quite the same level of adulation or applause patrolling the dark streets of Burnie as he did soaring high above the crowds as a professional circus performer.

But the 34-year-old says he's excited about the new challenge.

"I've worked with my body for a very long time and I thought it would be nice to work with my brain as well," he said.

"I think now, particularly in contemporary policing, we definitely have to use our brains — we have to learn the law, we have to learn about vulnerable people, we have cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds to deal with," he said.

"So I really think it's a combination of intelligence as well as the physical aspects."

Constable Loudon was one of 19 police recruits to graduate from the police academy on Friday.

He and his fellow graduates start work at station across Tasmania next week.

Constable Loudon spent a decade working as a professional circus performer across the world, but a back injury and war in the Ukraine affecting the town he was living saw him return to Australia.

Two years after he began work as a teacher at a circus school at Ulverstone in Tasmania's north-west, he saw a police recruitment poster and decided to try out.

"I just saw a sign one day on a billboard, one advertising for recruiting for Tasmania Police, and thought I'd give it a try — did an audition, got another audition and got into the police," he laughed.

"It will be fun to start — very [exciting], a bit nerve-wracking, but this is why we joined," he said.

While his past experience would stand him in good stead for police rescue, Constable Loudon has his eyes on a position in police prosecutions.

"I was an aerial performer so I worked mostly in the air on ropes, straps and tissue which is the silks that you'll often see hanging down — so a lot of flying around really pretending I was still a kid," he said.

"I worked with my body for a long time. I'd like to work with my brain now, so I was actually more interested in prosecutions."

Police numbers are now at about 1,230 after being cut to about 1,120 under the Labor-Green government.

The State Government has promised to recruit a further 125 new frontline police officers over the next four years.

Tasmania Police is currently conducting a review of where it most needs personnel and resources.